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Obama will visit Israel despite unsettled government

President Barack Obama will visit Israel later this month even if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fails to put together a governing coalition before the president arrives, the White House said Friday.

"We're going," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said at a briefing for reporters.

Netanyahu faces a March 16 deadline to form a coalition government, but has not yet managed to do so.

In response to a question, Earnest said Obama was not trying to influence the outcome of that process. "The formation of the Israeli government is responsibility of Prime Minister Netanyahu and other senior officials of the Israeli government...responsible for that task," the spokesman said.

Obama is scheduled to arrive March 20 on a trip that will take him to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan.

"That’s the President’s decision," Kerry said in an interview with CNN Tuesday. "I honestly don’t know the answer to that....We’ll have to see what that decision is. It’s really between he and Prime Minister Netanyahu."

Earnest also said Friday that Obama is not bringing a peace plan with him on the trip, but does plan to discuss the issue.

"While the president is not going with any specific peace plan in hand, the president...thinks it's in the interests of both parties, Palestinians and Israelis to prusue a peace agreement," the spokesman said. "That's something he'll certainly be talking about with leaders of the newly-formed Israeli government and something he'll certainly be talking about with President Abbas."